Needing a family
by soreta
Summary: 1st in the Crazy life series. Sarah's mother has been murdered and B&B take her in. Her step father is on the run and she has never met her real father. B&B have to find both men so Sarah can be safe and have a family again. Or does she already have one?
1. A family gone

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bones, wish I did, but sadly don't.**

"So what happened?" Brennan asked.

"A girl came home on night and found her mother dead. The place is a mess as if there was a major struggle," Booth replied swiftly, knowing Brennan would want details immediately instead of drawing them out.

She nodded and they both got into Booth's SUV. After a short drive, they arrived at the scene. Immediately, they pushed their way through the group of people standing outside and walked in. At first the place looked clean. Everything was organized; the floor was tidy, until they walked into the next room. Papers, books and glass were everywhere, and right in the middle of the room laid the body of the woman. Brennan carefully made her way over towards the body with Booth right in tow.

"What do you got Bones," he immediately asked.

She rolled her eyes at him and started pulling on her gloves and scanning the body, "White-Caucasian, 5"9', around 130 pounds, and looks to be in her early thirties. She's probably been dead for about a week."

"Great, any idea's to how she died?"

"I'd assume beaten to death," she replied.

A sudden voice startled the pair, "Wow, that was amazing."

Booth grabbed his gun and swiftly pointed it at the voice, but relaxed and put it down when he realized it was a young girl. "How did you get in here?"

"Easy," she pushed her hair over her shoulder. "I just walked in. Besides, it's the house I lived in, and I thought you might need some help with the case. Well that is if you two are the ones working on it."

Booth looked at Bones warily and she nodded, "We are. What else can you tell us about her?"

"And what's your name?" Booth added hurriedly. Bones gave him a quick look and returned to studying the body.

The girl smiled. "I'm Sarah Summers. My mother is Leanne Summers, loyally married to my 'father' Tristan." she said putting quotations around father. Booth gave her a questioning look. Sarah realized it and quickly filled him in, "My real father and Mom broke up before Mom knew she was pregnant. She never heard from him again and shortly after I was born, she met Tristan, fell in love and got married."

"Was there a big argument between your father and mother before the break up?"

"No," she replied. "Mom just told me there was no spark between them anymore so it just ended.

Booth nodded, "What about Tristan, any fights?"

She hesitated, and then slowly walked closer a bit, as if she was scared to tell the two. "He was a bit abusive to us at time, but only when he was really angry. Other times, he just seemed like a normal parent."

Booth's eyes widened, "What all did he do to you both?"

She cringed for a second and then said in a quiet whisper, but so quiet Booth had to lean forward so he could hear her, "At first, it was just yelling, but he scared us so much that we were too scared to talk much when he was yelling, so he would start hitting us until we said something and it would get worse if we said the wrong things like if he didn't like it."

Throughout her speech, her eyes quickly filled with tears and were slowly overflowing. Her face was still filled with fear, and she just looked so innocent. Bones couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor girl. Booth definitely made sure that Tristan was on the list of possible suspects.

"Do you have any pictures of you, your mom, and Tristan?" Brennan gently asked Sarah.

She nodded and pulled Booth toward the next room which appeared to be the living room. It was just as big of a disaster, if not more. Chairs were broken and scattered around the room, the glass to the coffee table was shattered, the T.V. was also broken hanging only by a few cords. Sarah tried looking for the book without having to move much. Booth saw she was only wearing flip flops which if she was to step on a piece of glass, it would easily cut her.

When she finally saw it, she said quietly, "It's over by the T.V under the papers by the bookshelf."

Booth carefully made his way over towards it, stepping around the glass that was everywhere. Slightly moving the papers he pulled out a big photo album. As soon as he got back to Sarah, he handed her the book and she sat down and opened it. At first it was all of her baby pictures. It wasn't until about 20 pages in, he saw more recent photos. Finding the picture she was looking for, she gently took out a picture of her, her mother, and Tristan all sitting around the couch, watching television.

"Is it a good picture? Or do you need a better one?" Sarah asked tentatively.

Booth smiled at her, "It should be fine. Thanks."

He left her sitting there going through the photos, and walked back over to Brennan. He handed her the picture.

"Great! Well I'm done here; we just need to get this body over to the Jeffersonian to run the rest of the tests," she replied.

Brennan was just grabbing the rest of the things she needed when Booth stopped her for a minute, "What about Sarah?"

Brennan gave him a look, then turned around and asked the girl, "Is there any family members you have that we can drop you off with?"

She looked up from the book, her face tearstained. She shook her head and then replied, "They are all dead."

Brennan's heart cried for the young girl. She was so young to have no family left in her life. She asked without really thinking, "Would you like to come with us?"

Booth's eyes widened at Brennan's request. He too felt bad for the girl but letting her come with them? To the Jeffersonian? But the girl's quickly brightened up. "I'd love to, if it is ok with you guys."

"Grab anything that you absolutely need, but the rest needs to stay here for the rest of the crime scene investigation."

Sarah nodded and opened another door opening to a hallway. At the end was her room where she grabbed a few sets of clothes and such. By the time Brennan was finally set to go, Sarah was too. They all hopped into Booth's SUV and drove back to the Jeffersonian.


	2. Clues to the Case

**Disclaimer: again, I don't own Bones!!**

Sarah was sad and excited at the same time. Even though she lost her mother she was thrilled that she got to come with these two. Suddenly, though, she realized something.

"What are your names? Or did I just miss hearing them?" Sarah giggled.

Booth laughed and Brennan turned around in her seat, "I'm Dr. Brennan, and he is Booth."

Sarah's jaw dropped to the floor when she heard Brennan's name, "Dr. Brennan as in the author of the book Bred and Bone?"

Booth was shocked, "Wait a minute, how old are you?"

"I'm 10," Sarah replied.

"A 10 year old read your book Bones! That is insane," he laughed.

Brennan was more confused on the matter, "How were you able to understand it? A normal 10 year old wouldn't know what half the words meant."

Sarah smiled, "I had my mom and my dictionary to help me! Now I rarely have to check the dictionary to remind myself what they meant."

"Wow, that's great Sarah," Brennan smiled gently.

"You want to know the best part of it?" Brennan nodded. "Ever since when I read it for the very first time, I knew I wanted to be just like you when I grew up. Forensic anthropology is just so intriguing!"

Booth gaped but Brennan just kept going with the conversation, "You know, it requires a lot of schoolwork to become a forensic anthropologist."

Sarah nodded her head, "I know, that's why I'm working extremely hard in all my classes at school. I've managed to skip a few grades in school, and I have straight A's."

"Wow, Sarah, you're full of surprises, aren't you?" Booth asked in complete wonder.

Sarah laughed, "I guess I am!"

By then, the group had reached the Jeffersonian. Sarah was amazed at the size, and was even more so when they got inside. Brennan started walking towards her office, and Sarah was right in tow, but still looking around, marveling at the size of it all. Booth said something about going to see someone called Angela, and the two set down their things and Brennan started doing something on her laptop. Sarah looked at all the books Brennan had on her shelf. There was just so many.

A few minutes later, a tall brunette walked in, "Hey Bren. Booth told me about Sarah. Where is she?"

"Geesh Angela, you don't even come in here to say hi anymore," Brennan replied jokingly.

Angela smiled, "I'm sorry sweetie. Hello," and gave her a hug.

Sarah laughed brightly, "I'm over here by the way."

While Angela went to chat with Sarah, Brennan sat at her desk desk deep in thought. 'What am I going to do with Sarah? I wouldn't know how to take care of her. But I couldn't just leave her there. I couldn't stand it if she had to go into foster car or go to an orphanage.' Zach's voice at the door snapped Brennan out of her thoughts.

"Dr. Brennan, the body is here."

Angela and Brennan glaced briefly at the other and both hurried out to the lab with Zach in tow. Sarah thought about following but decided against it. She would only get in the way. Instead, she pulled down a book on the human body from Brennan's bookcase and started reading.

-A Few Hours Later-

Sarah placed the book back and went to look for Brennan. The lab was silent so she knew they weren't there. Following the wall around the lab, she finally started to hear the familiar voices. Zach was describing what he thought was a weapon that was used on Leanne.

"I've determined that it was some sort of small, thin blade, like a scalpel, but it is slightly duller."

Sarah poked her head around the corner and saw Zach pointing at several extremely small cuts on an arm. She racked her brain through something like what Zach was talking about. When she had an idea she went in the room.

"I think it might be a scalpel that was used against my mother. I have one that I got in a dissecting kit for kids. It was made duller so kids couldn't accidentally cut themselves unless they were pressing pretty hard," Sarah spoke up.

"That is a possiblity," Brennan contemplated.

Hodgin's looked extremely carefully at the cuts, and took a pair of tweezers and picked up something. Squinting at it, he realized what it was, "This looks like part some kind of worm's esophagus."

"How did that get in the cuts?" Zach asked, confused.

"Maybe it was left on the weapon," Hodgins replied.

Sarah dug through her memories. "I was in the backyard, dissecting the worm I had found earlier that morning. Mom had told me that the school bus was going to be there any minute. I don't think I stopped until it was waiting out front." Sarah slapped her forehead, "I must not have cleaned it like I normally do! I just tossed it on the counter and rushed out."

At the sight of Brennan's face which was deep in thought at what Sarah just said, Angela asked, "Another trip to the scene?"

"Looks it," Brennan replied quietly. Then more loudly, "I'll call Booth, and you," she pointed at Sarah, "are coming with. You know what your kit looks like."

Sarah had thought should couldn't be anymore excited, but she couldn't have been more wrong. She was going to help with the case to find her mother's murderer!


	3. No air

**Disclaimer: NO... I don't own Bones...I'm just having bunches of fun with the characters! **

Before walking in the house, Brennan tossed Sarah and Booth a pair of latex gloves. Then they split up to find the dissecting kit. Brennan in the dining room (where Leanne was murdered), Booth in the living room, and Sarah in the kitchen. Sarah looked all around the kitchen, looking under papers, in the drawers, cabinets, on the floor. Just then she noticed something under a piece of paper. When she pulled it out, she saw a photo of her and her mother, about a year ago. They were sitting on a bench at the park laughing at a joke they shared.

Tears welled up in Sarah's eyes. She really couldn't believe her mother was gone. Besides for her only friend she ever had, her mother was the only person that actually loved her. Sarah sat down and started to cry.

--

Booth was just about going to search under the couch when he heard something that didn't sound like Sarah searching in the next room over. Quietly, he got up and looked in through the doorway. There she sat, crying. He kneeled next to her and pulled her into a tight embrace.

"I miss her. I miss her so much, Booth," Sarah sobbed.

Booth really didn't know what to say to her to help her feel better, but did say, "We will do everything we can to find out who murdered your mom."

"But it won't bring her back," Sarah said after a few minutes, then pulled away slightly. "Thank you though."

Just then, Booth realized his knee was begining to hurt from it being on something. He backed up and picked up a bright blue case. Sarah brightened when she recongnized what it was.

"My disecting kit," she murmured. She took it from Booth and opened it. Of course, everything was there, except her scapel.

Sarah scrambled up and rushed back into the dining room, where Brennan was still looking. She looked up and saw what Sarah held in her hand. Tossing the case to her, Sarah looked at the wall where she saw dried blood caked on the wall. She studied it carefully. There were tiny nicks in the wall, blood seemed to be surrounding them. Blood was also trailing from a dent that could have been where a head was hit. However, it was higher than her mom. Booth and Brennan watched the girl study the wall. After a few minutes she stopped, looked around, and then almost ran over to the wall on the other side of the room. Brennan went over by her and stared at what was stuck in the carpet. The scapel. Wordlessly, Brennan pulled it up and showed it to Booth.

"Whoa," he whispered. "She's good!"

Sarah giggled, "I can't help the fact I tend to pay close attention to detail. I just figured that the scapel would be in here and I might be able to find out exactly where by looking at the place Mom was murdered." She thought for a second then asked Booth, "Can you stand by the dent in the wall and act like you are holding someone up, choking them?"

He did as she asked but Sarah saw that he was a good half foot too short. Instead of frowning in confusing, she smiled. "Well, now we have a clue to who the murderer could have been."

Brennan caught up to what Sarah was thinking. "So you're saying that the murderer would have to be bigger and taller than Booth, right?"

"Exactly!" she exclaimed. "Now, just one more thing I want."

Before anyone could say anything, Sarah rushed into her room and grabbed a high tech camera. Coming back into the room, she took multiple pictures of the walls. Booth stared at the girl. She was totally into the case and wanted so badly to help find the person who killed her mom. She was good at what she was doing too. Just like Bones. At that thought, he looked at Brennan. She was looking at the pictures and the wall with Sarah, going over some of the finer details about the murderer. Booth was mesmerized by the two of them. Brennan was beautiful. As much as he denied it, he loved that woman, more than anything in the world, except for Parker. Booth wasn't really sure on what she thought of him though. They flirted, danced around the line, but the line was always there. He hated the line, but understood why it was there. He couldn't bare the thought of losing her.

"Booth!" a voice yelled into his ear.

He could have sworn he jumped up 6 feet in the air, the voice startled him so much. He turned and saw Sarah about to burst into giggles.

"You done staring, or do we have to drag you back to the car?" Brennan asked, laughing. Sarah couldn't control herself any longer and finally burst into laughter right along with Brennan.

He rolled his eyes at the pair and strolled back to the car. Once inside all was silent again. Sarah stared at the pictures she just took on her camera and the ones previously stored on it. Brennan was deep in thought with her head against the window. Booth just started up the car and drove to the Jeffersonian. After a few minutes he decided to turn on the radio to break the silence. The song playing was already halfway over but immediately got Booth's attention.

I Walked, I Ran, I Jumped, I Flew  
Right off the ground to float to you  
Theres no gravity to hold me down  
For real

But Somehow Im still alive inside  
You took my breath but I survived  
I don't know how but I don't even care

So How do you expect me  
To live alone with just me  
Cause my world revolves around you  
its so hard for me to breathe

Tell Me How im supposed to breathe with no air  
Can't live can't breathe with no air  
thats how I feel whenever you ain't there  
Its No Air No Air  
Got me out here and the water so deep  
Tell me how you gon be without me  
if you ain't here i just can't breathe  
Its No Air No Air

No air air  
No air air  
No air air  
No air air

Throughout the song Sarah was oblivious to the two in the front seats. When the other wasn't looking, they continuously kept stealing glances at the other. Brennan knew she liked Booth, but she just couldn't have him. He confused her so much, but yet, she couldn't remember a day without him. She was practical, and having something so complicated, so uncontrollable. In any other relationship, she wouldn't be hurt as much if something happened, unlike if it was Booth she was with. Booth was insufferable at times, but God, did she love him. Wait, did I just say that? she asked herself. Shutting her eyes, she knew it was true. She wasn't ready to be with Booth. Not now anyway.

When she opened her eyes, Booth was just pulling into the Jeffersonian. He gave her a soft smile just before they got out. She gave him one back and before Booth could see her blushing, she hurried up into the building. Her red face wasn't missed by Angela.

"Sweetie, what happened?"

Brennan tried not to even look at her and just hurry to her office, "Nothing."

She kept right up with her, "Don't tell me that! Me and you both know something happened."

Brennan stopped so quickly, Angela almost ran into a cart. "Angela, NOTHING happened. I'm telling you!"

Angela threw her hands up in the air and walked off with a, "GAH!!"

She couldn't help but smile at the younger girl. She just seemed to be able to sense things, as if she was telepathic. It annoyed her at times, but Angela was a good friend. She knew she could count on her for anything she needed.She turned away and continued to go to her office.

Meanwhile, Sarah saw Zach and Hodgins racing their beatles and rushed to see if she could join. Angela walked over to Booth to see if he would fill her in on what happened, but he said he had no clue what Angela was talking about. Angela gave up on him too and went to go to her office.

Hodgins handed Sarah a beatle and asked, "What happened between Booth an Dr. Brennan?"

Sarah laughed, "Nothing, except Booth seemed to go gaga just before we left my house."

"He was gaga at Dr. Brennan?" Zach asked awkwardly.

She shrugged, "Maybe, but they look pretty cute together."

"Angela has been trying every chance she could get to get the two of them together," Hodgins laughed. "But you're right; they would be cute together."

The three of them put their bugs on the line and when Zach got to three, they let them all go and rushed to where the finish line was and started cheering them on.

--Few hours later--

"Sweetie, what are you doing tonight?"

Brennan looked up from her papers to see Angela ready to leave."As soon as I'm done with these, I'm going to take Sarah to get a bite to eat and then go home."

"Sarah's staying with you?" Angela asked confused.

"Yes. She doesn't have anyone else she could go home with, and I feel responsible for her."

"Aww, how sweet!" However Angela seemed a bit down for some reason, "Tell me you know what day it is!"

"Its friday. What's so special about it?"

Angela came over and sat on the corner of Brennan's desk, "Sweetie! It's Valentines day. You can't just sit at home. You should be out!"

Brennan sighed, "You know I don't like these kinds of holidays, Angela. Besides, it's been a long day. I'd rather go home and relax."

"Well, I am going on a date with Hodgins," she smiled. However she frowned when she saw the time, "And we should have left five minutes ago! If we don't leave now, we're going to miss our reservation!"

The two hugged and Angela rushed out of the office. She was about to go back to her paperwork when she was again interrupted, but this time by Booth.

"Hey, Bones! I got Parker for the weekend! And I got this great idea."

She tried to sound happy for him but her voice sounded tired, "That's great. What's your idea?"

"Are you ok, Bones?" He sounded really concerned about her.

"I'm fine! Now what is your idea?"

He grinned, "What if I go pick up some Wong Foo's and me and Parker could meet you at your place or mine. He really wants to meet her."

"How did he hear about her? We only met her today," Brennan asked confused.

"Because I just talked to him when Rebecca called to find out when I'm picking him up. And he also wants to see you too."

She smiled for a minute. It would be good to see Parker again. She only hoped the two could get along considering their age difference. "That'll be fine, Booth. But my place."

"Alright, alright," Booth chuckled. "When are you going to be done?"

"Just in a minute if I don't get interrupted again." She glanced up at him again, "What's Sarah doing?"

"Putting away the beatles, since Angela just dragged Hodgins off to their date."

She finished up the last page and sighed with relief. "I'll go get Sarah, and meet you at my place in 30 minutes."

"Deal!" and he was gone. She gathered her belongings and grabbed Sarah's bag that was sitting in the chair across from her. With a last look at her office, she hurried off to find Sarah before heading home.


	4. New friends

**Disclaimer: Bones and Shrek are not mine.**

"Hey Sarah! Can you tell me a story?" Parker asked excitedly.

Brennan smiled at the two. Parker had been shy when he first met Sarah but the two quickly became friends. So far this evening was enjoyable, thanks to Booth.

"Why story shall I do, Parker?"

He thought for a minute and finally asked, "Shrek?"

"Shrek?" Brennan asked Booth.

He laughed and gave her a brilliant smile. "Shrek is from a movie where he has to get his swamp back from fairy tale creatures by traveling with a talking donkey to find and save a beautiful princess and take her to the prince so he can become king."

"Fairy tale creatures? Talking donkeys? Ogres?" Brennan asked confused. "None of them really exist."

"Bones, it's a movie. It doesn't have to be real," Booth smiled. "Now, just watch and listen."

Sarah had already started and was enjoying acting along with her story. "Once upon a time, there was a lovely princess. But she had an enchantment upon her of a fearful sort which could only be broken by love's first kiss. She was locked away in a castle, guarded by a terrible fire-breathing dragon. Many brave knights had attempted to free her from this dreadful prison, but none prevailed. She waited in the dragon's keep, in the highest room of the tallest tower, for her true love, and true love's first kiss. But like that's ever going to happen. What a load of—hang on."

Sarah rushed out of the room towards the bathroom and flushed the toilet. Parker laughed and when Sarah came back she was too. She continued on. She lightly pinched Parker and said, "Shrek was an ogre, and you know what ogres do?" Parker shook his head. "Ogres make suits from your freshly peeled skin. They'll shave your liver. Squeeze the jelly from your eyes. Actually, it's quite good on toast!"

Parker let out a, "Ewww."

Sarah laughed, "So anyway, Shrek…"

Booth could barely keep his eyes off Brennan. Occasionally, he would look back to the two kids every time she looked at him. He caught a few phrases every once in a while but didn't really pay attention to them. She was so enchanted by the story; he just could barely look away. However, Sarah's singing did get his attention, and she did have a good voice, mind you!

"I steal from the rich and give to the needy. He takes a wee percentage, but I'm not greedy. I rescue pretty damsels, Man! I'm good. What a guy, Monsieur Hood! Break it down." She grabbed Parker and Brennan's hands and made them start dancing along with her, and then when they were dancing, she grabbed Booth and pretended to fight with him for the next part.

"I like an honest fight and a saucy little maid. What he's basically saying is he likes to get – Paid! So, when an ogre in the bush grabs a lady by the tush, that's bad." Everyone joined in on the Merry men's parts then. "That's bad, that's bad, that's bad. When a beauty's with a beast it makes me awfully mad! He's mad, he's really, really mad! Now I'll take my blade and ram it through your heart. Keep your eyes on me, boys, 'cause I'm about to start!" Sarah pretended to put an invisible sword at Booth's chest, but Parker playfully pushed Sarah into the couch he was sitting at previously. They all busted out into laughter and collapsed on the couch.

Parker said with a giggle, imitating Princess Fiona, "Man, that was annoying!"

They all laughed again. Eventually, the laughter quieted down, and they all started falling asleep except for Sarah. It was a little cold, so Sarah got up and started looking for a few blankets. Luckily, it didn't take her long to find the closet that had some. Grabbing three of them, she went back into the room and tucked everyone in, and then hopped up onto another couch and went to sleep herself.

--The next morning—

Brennan woke with a start. Blankets were tangled around her, and she was about to untangle herself when she realized two other figures were on the couch with her. She had been using Booth's shoulder as a pillow, and Parker was curled up in her lap. She looked up and saw Sarah was asleep on the couch across from her. Remembering the night before, Brennan smiled. It had been so much fun. More fun than she had in ages. She was about to go back to sleep when she heard her alarm clock going off in her room. Gently, she shifted Parker off her lap and went to turn off her alarm clock and get ready for work.

Sarah was wide awake when Brennan walked out of her room. She seemed to be staring off into space, just deep in thought. Brennan was a lot like this girl. Both mothers were dead; their fathers had disappeared. Brennan had been in the system and if wasn't for the fact Sarah was needed to solve this case, she would be too.

She took a seat next to the girl. Sarah gave a small smile and whispered, "He has almost been a father to me my entire life. He thought me many of the harsher sides of life. The few good things I did learn were on his good days. Part of me still loves that good in Tristan, but most of me tells me I can never love or trust him.

"He'd come home drunk every once in a while. Those were the worst. The one thing I was thankful for was that I was always easily knocked out so I didn't feel the pain until I woke up again. I was lucky I wasn't kicked out of school because of how many days I was absent. Only when my bruises weren't visible was I allowed to go to school."

She looked up at Brennan and saw a face full of concern. She didn't immediately know why she was spilling her heart out to this woman whom she had just met yesterday. She realized it was because she was the only person, besides her mother, who actually listened to her. Sarah really appreciated it.

Sarah lifted up her shirt to show heavy bruising on much of her chest. Brennan wondered why it seemed she was in no pain. Many other people would be wincing at every little movement. Sarah seemed to read her mind as she continued. "It has happened so many times now that I've learned how to just ignore it and pretend it isn't there."

Tears welled up in her eyes and she just couldn't hold it in any longer. She hugged Brennan and cried silently, still respecting the boys by letting them sleep. Brennan, though thoroughly shocked, hugged Sarah back gently, letting her cry. However, Booth's phone wasn't as happy staying quiet. Booth woke with a start and quickly answered his phone.

"Booth," he said sleepily.

By now, Parker was awake and all wanted to know what was so important that someone had to call at this time of the morning. Booth grabbed a pen and paper off the table and wrote something.

With a thanks and a bye, he closed his phone and said quickly, gathering his things, "We know where Tristan is."


	5. Search for the father

**Disclaimer: I may be a bit of an obsessive Bones fan but I guarantee you I do not own Bones… hint the word fan…**

"Tristan?" Sarah exclaimed. "He's been found already?"

Booth nodded, trying to get his jacking on in his rush. "The FBI did a search for all of the places he has ever lived and looked for recent sightings of him. The best guess they have is some apartment complex just right out of D.C."

Sarah quickly went to the bathroom and changed into a pair of jeans and grabbed her jacket. When she came out everyone was ready to go. It wasn't until they were almost out of D.C. when Booth realized having two kids with him when he was going to find a possible murderer was a very bad idea. However, he didn't have the time to turn around and drop them off at Rebecca's, the Jeffersonian, or his apartment.

As he turned into the apartment complex he sighed and said to Sarah and Parker, "You two need to stay in the car. Its way too dangerous for you to even be here, but you'll be safest in the car."

"But Daddy," Parker argued, "we want to help you!"

Sarah's quick thinking saved Booth from having to reply, "Hey Parker, we can help them from the car!"

"How?"

"We can keep an eye out for bad guys that might be outside. Or we can make sure Tristan doesn't manage to escape."

Parker clapped in excitement and Sarah giggle. Meanwhile, Booth was shooting Brennan glances, his eyes begging her to stay in the car as well.

She glared at him, "I'm going with you whether you like it or not, Booth."

He sighed in defeat and parked along the sidewalk right across from the apartment Tristan was supposed to be in and made sure the car was mostly hidden behind the tree in front of the building. Booth and Brennan got out of the car and opened the back. Both grabbed bullet proof vests and Booth tossed a walkie-talkie to Sarah.

"Call us if something's wrong."

Sarah nodded in acknowledgement and grabbed a pair of binoculars off the floor. With a slam of the back, the two went up the stairs into the building. Sarah had lived her before. She stared out the windows of her old apartment and sure enough she saw Brennan and Booth walk past it. She told Parker where to watch and she moved to the other side of the SUV to keep watch on that side.

After about a minute she lifted the binoculars and looked through all the windows and on top of the roofs. Sarah looked in the top windows of the building in front of her. It used to be the place where her first real friend lived. That was until she died due to a school shooting. Sarah was in the room right next door to her friend when she heard the gun shots. After that, she got her friend's older brother to each her how to fight and about weapons so she might be able to protect herself later in her life.

She was so busy remember her past, she almost didn't see a person at the window. She looked more closely and realized the person was aiming a sniper! She rushed back to Parker's side and saw Brennan standing at a window.

Quickly, finding the button to talk on the walkie-talkie she cried, "Booth, Brennan! Sniper!"

Booth barely was able to ask, "Where?" when Sarah heard two screams and the sound of shattering glass. She heard the sound of Booth's walkie-talkie hitting the floor and breaking and saw Parker's eyes wide in fear. Sarah picked him up and hid him behind the seat. She took off her jacket,. Put on another bullet proof vest and put the jacket back on to hide it.

"Parker, I need to you to stay right here, no matter what you see or hear. You got it?"

He was almost in tears as he said, "But Daddy said to stay in the car."

Sarah squeezed her eyes shut in frustration, "Dr. Brennan could be hurt really badly. I have to stop that guy before he hurts your Dad or even us, or gets away."

With that she rushed out of the SUV and hurried up the steps. When she got to the familiar door, she paused and felt a pang of fear. 'Should I do this?' she thought to herself. The picture of Brennan lying dead on the apartment floor formed in her head and she forced herself to go inside the apartment.

The door was already unlocked due to probably the sniper forcing his way in. As silent as she could be, she walked towards her old friend's parent's room. The sniper was getting ready to leave. A plan formed in Sarah's head as she walked back and hid in the bathroom doorway, waiting for him to go by. She willed her pounding heart to quiet down, believing he might be able to hear it. Thirty seconds later, she heard his quick footsteps as he moved closer.

Sarah prepared herself. As he was about to walk past, she rushed forward and tackled him. He cried out in shock. When they landed, he pushed her of and kicked her in her already wounded chest. She winced in pain but was fast on her feet as she dodged the next kick and punch. Sarah kneed him in the place it hurts the most and kicked him in the shin when he doubled up in pain. He almost fell forward but she quickly pushed him as hard as she could to the wall. When he hit, the wall shook with such force, a heavy book fell off its shelf and hit the sniper in the head, knocking him out cold.

Sarah collapsed to the floor. Her chest injury was hurting extremely bad and she figured she might have broken a few ribs. She seemed unable to move and prayed Booth would come fast and help her before the sniper woke up. Thankfully, she didn't have to wait long.

She heard Booth's heavy steps come up the stairs and enter the hallway. She guessed he saw the snipers body because she heard him disarming him as fast as possible, his cursing barely audible. He only had to take one more step to find Sarah lying on the bathroom floor.

"Sarah," he whispered, coming over to pick her up.

She looked at him and forced a small smile, trying to cover up her pain. She held her chest as Booth held her gingerly.

"Back-up just arrived. They'll be able to get him and bring him in for questioning."

"How's Brennan," she interrupted.

He gave her a small, somewhat grateful smile, "Thanks to your call, you probably just saved her life. The bullet just grazed her arm. But I have to ask you; what were you thinking leaving the car to try to stop him? You could have been killed!"

"He was going to get away. If he had really, really hurt or killed Brennan and I had stayed put he would have gotten away with it. I just couldn't let him hurt anyone else."

He got up and carried Sarah back down to the SUV and passed a small group of FBI agents who went into the apartment to take the sniper into custody. Booth laid Sarah down in the back seat where a very anxious Parker was waiting for her and then he hurried over to Brennan who was getting her armed wrapped up.

"Sarah! Are you okay? Did you stop the bad guy?"

She groaned in pain but smiled for Parker's sake, "Don't you worry, I'll be fine. And that bad guy will never hurt another person ever again."

She tried to sit up but as her head began to swim, she passed out.

* * *

"How is she?" Brennan asked Booth who she had just watched carry Sarah down to the SUV.

"I'd guess she has a few broken ribs, but I'm worried about internal bleeding so as soon as you're ready to go, we're going to the hospital."

"Daddy!" Parker cried.

Booth turned to see Parker running over to him, He kneeled and quickly asked, "Parker, what's wrong?"

Parker could barely speak, he was so worried, "Sarah, she fell asleep, and she's… she's not waking up. She isn't faking!"

Booth looked up at Brennan and knew she was thinking of what he said could be wrong with Sarah. Without a second thought, the three hurried back to the SUV and, with the sirens blaring, sped to the hospital.

* * *

"Sweetie, I came as fast as I could," Angela ran down the hall to her best friend.

Brennan was distressed. She might never have said it aloud, but she promised to at least herself that she would make sure Sarah stayed safe. Now Brennan was sitting with her head in her hands praying Sarah would be okay. Hours seemed to pass before a doctor came into the hallway to give them news about Sarah.

"We had to perform extensive surgery to stop internal bleeding that was going on in her chest. It seems as if she has been bleeding like this for maybe more than a week."

"Wait," Angela interrupted. "If internal bleeding had been going on for an entire week, wouldn't something like this have happened earlier?"

The doctor nodded, "Normally, you would be right, but it appears Miss Summers is a special case."

"Where's the but?" Angela asked quickly, knowing that whatever it was, Brennan would take it hard, so it was better to just cut to the chase.

He sighed, "Her body had slipped into such a state of shock from the loss of blood that she is in a coma."

Both woman stared at him in shock until Booth came in with coffee for the two. Noticing the doctor, Booth quickly asked him about how Sarah was and the doctor explained the situation to him. When he was finished, Brennan finally found the words to speak.

"Will she wake up?"

He shrugged, "Maybe, but it is a possibility that she will never wake up."

Her dam that was holding back her tears finally broke as she got up and sought the comfort of Booth's arms.

"I'm sorry," the doctor said just before walking off.


	6. Fights

**Disclaimer: … no I don't own Bones…**

The past week had been hell. Pure, insane, chaotic, emotional, zip for good, hell. Brennan, Booth, and Cam spent their entire days arguing for one reason or another. Zach and Hodgins were fighting over something they didn't even remember. Angela was at her wits end with everyone and their fighting and bickering. This all seemed to have erupted after Sarah's incident that she has yet to wake up from. However, the only time any of them could manage to get along was when they were with Sarah.

Booth was on the worst emotional ride out of all of the squints. Rebecca had found out about Sarah and figured out that Parker was with him too. Booth wasn't even allowed to talk to his son. An entire week of bickering didn't help him. Sarah was the only person he could actually talk to, even though she didn't talk back. He didn't know if she could hear him or not but she might have been able to understand it better, and he didn't have to explain it thoroughly or worry about bickering back.

Brennan was a close second. Her fights with Cam started when she was late for work Sunday morning and just continued from there. They bickered over every little detail and the bickering with Booth started when he defended Brennan but she stupidly said she didn't need his help with Cam. Not only was she depressed over Sarah's accident, she was also having some problems with her father again which started when she mentioned the girl to him. He didn't seem to listen to her when she tried explaining what had been happening.

Couples counseling had been a huge wreak. Sweets had grown so terrified of the arguments and the throwing of every object in the room (a few of which barely missed him) that he was nowhere near his room when he even heard the two.

So, it was Sunday once again, and Angela was enjoying the break from the tension back at the Jeffersonian and was eating a burger at the diner. However, she was intruiged by a slightly familiar face and a definite familiar face.

"Hi, Parker! Rebecca?"

Rebecca nodded and asked, "Angela, right? One of Booth's friends?"

"I guess you could call me that," Angela murmured. "Is there something I can do for you?"

She hesitated. She really didn't want to talk to Booth about this, but Rebecca didn't know what to do. She sat Parker at a table right next to Angela's. "Parker has been having nightmares that this girl, Sarah, was dead. I try to keep telling him she is alive but only just sleeping."

Angela nodded understandingly. Rebecca looked at Parker's forlorn face and begged softly, "What can I do, Angela?"

She was about to shrug with an honest 'I have no clue' but was stopped by an idea. "We can take him to the hospital and prove to him she is alive. That might help make his nightmares go away."

Rebecca furrowed her brows in concern, "Wouldn't that tramatize him more?"

"They might have only been together for less than 24 hours, but it's obvious they've grown close. I think Parker just wants to actually have proof his friend is alive."

She nodded and looked at Parker who was randomly scribbling in colors in pictures of his coloring book. Rebecca sighed and asked, "Could you help me take Parker to see her, seeing as I don't know her as well as you do?"

Angela smiled, but quickly vanished when she saw Booth and Brennan walking over to the diner, already in a heated argument. As much as she loved seeing her friend, she was not in the mood to deal with another argument. "Do you mind if we go now?"

Rebecca, too, saw the two walking up and without a moments hesitation, she quickily replied, "Please."

She quickly gathered up Parker and the three were out the door and in their cars before they were spotted. After a few minutes, both cars arrived at the hospital. Not a word was spoken until they arrived at Sarah's room.

Parker stared at Sarah in silent shock. Slowly walking up to her, he asked, "Are you sure she's alive?"

Angela gave him a small smile and pointed at the machines that were surrounding her. "As long as they are running, she'll be fine."

"Can I wake her up?"

"I don't know if she would," Angela replied. "You could try talking to her. That might wake her up."

He nodded and leaned on the bed next to Sarah. "Hey Sarah. I've really missed you this week, and I'm sure Daddy and Dr. Brennan do too. I've been having some bad dreams about you that seemed so real. I'm glad you aren't dead though. I wonder how you could be asleep for a week. I can't even sleep for over half a day!"

He looked over to Angela and Rebecca and saw their reassuring faces. Turning back to Sarah, he whispered softly in her ear, "You gotta wake up soon. Your still have to tell me the rest of the Shrek story." He sighed when she was still unconscious. "I'll be back soon. Maybe you'll be awake then."

With a small smile, he ran back to his mom, took her hand, and led her back outside. Parker was feeling happier, whether if it was just really knowing she was alive or just seeing her, he had no clue.

* * *

"I'll be back soon," a quiet familiar voice said. "Maybe you'll be awake then."

She tried to open her eyes but found she didn't have the strength. She couldn't move any of her body. She heard the sound of the person leaving the room only to have another person sit down next to her again. Sleep began crawling up on her when she thought, 'The voice is going to be right. I will be awake when he comes back.' With that, Sarah fell back into a slumber.

* * *

Dr. Brennan was back at the lab after a particularly horrible argument with Both. She wanted to talk to Angela but she was nowhere to be found. Brennan just figured she would be at the hospital with Sarah. She pulled out Leanne Summers skeleton out of its box and took another look at it as she hadn't seen it in over a week. The squints had not figured out the cause of death yet so she focused on the skull first.

Minus a few nicks, it seemed to be in good condition. However, she noticed something in the top part of the eye socket. There was cracks and in a few cracks were some either grit or pieces of whatever the weapon was.

The skull almost fell as her phone scared her for a split second as it vibrated against her leg. Quickly setting the skull down, she answered the phone. "Brennan."

"Sweetie, gather up the guys and come to the hospital. Sarah is showing signs of waking up!"

"Angela, really?"

"Yes, really." Brennan could hear the happiness in her friend's voice. "Wow, are you going to just sit stand there in the lab or are you going to get moving?"

She ran to Zach's office. "I'm going! And how did you know I was in the lab?"

"Because, I know you. Now I'll talk to you when you get here."

Brennan's slight scare from before was nothing to the shock on those two guys' faces when she burst into the room, faster than she ever has before and said, talking so fast they could barely understand her, "Sarah's waking up; we need to go to the hospital, now!

She was almost out of the building when she was stopped by Cam. "Where do you think you are going, Dr. Brennan? I know there is not another case so, I'm not letting you leave without a good reason."

"Sarah is waking up and I AM going to see her whether you ok it or not!"

"You can see her when you get off work. I guarantee you, she isn't going anywhere."

"I want to be there when she does wake up."

"We're coming too!" Hodgins voice rang across the lab.

Cam's face was red in anger, "Oh, no. No!"

"What's going on?" Booth as he walked in the door.

Seeing as Brennan and Cam were starring daggers at each other and weren't going to say anything, Zach piped up, "Sarah is waking up."

Booth stared at the four of them, thinking they were out of their mind, "Then what are you all standing around here for? Let's go."

Brennan willingly stormed out of the building quickly followed by Booth, Zach and Hodgins, leaving an extremely shocked and frustrated Cam standing where she was.


	7. Jokes and making up

**Disclaimer: If I owned Bones, would I be sitting here typing this story?**

Everything was dark and quiet, minus a steady beeping. She looked around the room. She could make out a shape on the chair next to her. As her eyes grew accustomed to the dark, she could make out the light brown hair. Brennan, she smiled. One of the people she most wanted to see. Minutes turned to hours as she watched her friend sleep. Light slowly entered the room as the sun rose. Her head fell back against the pillow in happiness. The day seemed so perfect.

The door to the room opened, and she looked up quickly and saw a man she didn't know. She tensed, her fight instincts prepared. That is until he spoke quietly, "Sarah, its ok. I'm Dr. Haadhun."

She relaxed slightly and allowed him to come closer. He came around the other side across where Brennan was sleeping and took her blood pressure and the other normal things.

"Do you know where you are?" he asked her.

Rolling her eyes, she replied softly, "Obviously, I am in a hospital if you are a doctor."

He chuckled in amusement, "What about your last memory?"

Sarah sighed and leaned back in concentration. "I think I remember hearing a little boy talking to me. I think it was Parker."

"In the car before you were taken here or actually here?"

"Here, I think. It could have been the car, but I am almost certain it was here."

"Do you remember what he said?"

She tried to remember but was met with a dead end. She shook her head.

He gave her a small smile, gave her a pat on the shoulder and left as quietly as possible. She thought of Parker. What was it exactly that he said to her again? She didn't realize that she sighed loud enough to wake up Brennan.

"Sarah? You're awake?"

She looked at her and with a huge smile, nodded. And then, she was hugged with such force, her breath was knocked out of her.

"Ok, I know you're happy to see me and all, but can you at least let me be alive when you're done hugging me?" Sarah giggled.

Brennan pulled back and saw the tears in her eyes. "Sorry, I just can't believe you're finally awake."

"Oh! My! God!" a loud voice squealed from the door.

Both Sarah and Brennan looked to see who it was and Sarah was quick to reply, "Angela, you know there are other people sleeping here, right?"

"You're awake!"

"Uh, yeah. We kinda already know that."

Angela ran over and gave Sarah a quick hug and ran out, "I'm going to call the others!"

The two laughed when she disappeared. "How many more times do you think I will hear 'She's awake!' again?" Sarah asked.

"Probably way too many."

And, was she right! Within the hour, she was visited by all the squints (not including Cam), Booth, and Parker. Most of them said the words until she was about ready to throw them all out. She knew they were all extremely happy to see her awake and full of energy.

When Booth brought Parker in, everyone could tell how happy he was. Without saying a single word, he ran over to the bed, climbed on the chair and onto the bed to give Sarah a gigantic hug. "I can't believe it!"

"It's good to see you too, Parker! How have you been?"

He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and showed it to her, "I drew this yesterday. I wanted to give it to you."

Sarah smiled at him and studied it. From her view, she believed she saw her pretending to be Shrek and a laughing Parker. But she did want to make sure and asked him what it was.

"It's you telling me the Shrek story! You need to finish telling me that!"

She laughed, "I'll make you a deal. If you can wait until I get out of this hospital, I will finish telling you the story and tell you another one."

His eyes brightened, "Pinky swear?"

"Pinky swear?" Brennan asked Booth.

"It's a kid way of promising something," he laughed.

Sarah and Parker entwined their pinkies and Sarah promised, "Pinky swear."

"I'm looking for Sarah Summers. Can you tell me where her room is?" Cam asked the receptionist.

"Third floor, 11th door to your left."

With a nod of thanks, she hurried to the room. Cam was this close to firing every one of them. That is if they were here. When the elevator made it to the third floor, she heard the sound of laughter and talking coming from near the end of the hallway. Quietly, she walked to the door to see everyone around the bed. Angela and Hodgins at the foot, Brennan and Booth on each side and Parker was squeezed in the bed next to who Cam assumed was Sarah.

She was adorable. Cam could see why everyone loved her.

"Ok, ok, here's another one." Sarah said in between gasps of laughter. "There was this boy who on his first day of kindergarten was asked to recite the first four letters of the alphabet. He didn't know them, so his teacher told him to ask his family when he got home from school. When he got home, he asked his mom, who was on the phone, what the first letter of the alphabet was. She said, 'Shut up you idiot, don't you see I'm on the phone?"

Even more laughs came from everyone. Sarah continued, "Then he went to his sister's room and asked while she was listening to music what the second letter of the alphabet is and she replied, 'Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh.' Then he went to his brother who was watching a football game, and asked what the third letter was and he said, '49ers, Smack em hard!'"

Cam even managed a quiet giggle with that part. Sarah gave everyone a brilliant smile. "Then he went and asked his dad, who was using the bathroom, what the fourth letter was, and he sang, 'In the toilet, in the toilet, in the toilet.' The next morning, when the boy went to school the teacher again asked what the first four letters of the alphabet were. Immediately he told his teacher, 'Shut up you idiot, don't you see I'm on the phone?' 'Do you want to go to the principal's office, young man?' 'Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh.' With that, she sent him to the principal's office, and as soon as he was let in the principal asked, 'How many spankings do you want?'

"'49ers, smack em hard!' The principal shrugged and gave him the spankings, and when he was done, he asked, 'Where do you live?' 'In the toilet, in the toilet, in the toilet.'"

There was no stopping the laughing now. It was so contagious that when Doctor Haadhun walked into the room he started laughing as well. After a long while, everyone started settling down, and Angela finally noticed Cam standing by the doorway.

"What are you doing here, Cam?" she asked.

"I was looking for all of you."

"What?" Brennan asked with a twinge of anger. "Something wrong at the lab?"

"Look, Dr. Brennan. I want to apologize for the way I've been acting this past week," Cam sighed. "I can see now why you would be late every morning."

"Well, I did tell you why I was late and why I needed to leave work in the middle of the day. It's not like we've been overrun with cases this week."

"Guys," Sarah quickly intervened. "I'm ok with apologizing in this room, but please, no fighting or arguing! Now everyone give everyone a gigantic hug and forgive each other."

She laughed as Parker immediately hugged her but was happy to see everyone did hug each other.

The doctor spoke up when they had finished, "Sarah will be allowed to go home as soon as someone signs the release papers."

"Really?" Brennan asked hopefully.

"That is correct," he replied with a smile. Brennan was so happy she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and then went over to give Sarah an excited hug. Angela's mind was squealing as she watched Brennan. However, Angela glanced at Booth but smiled when she realized he didn't notice what had just happened. A jealous Booth was not wanted at this happy time.

"Hey, lets go celebrate," Angela suggested to the group and was met with the approvals of the rest of them.

Ten minutes later, Sarah was dressed, release papers signed, and everyone was in their cars going to the diner.


	8. Secrets let out

Sarah was exhausted after the celebration at the diner. It had been fun though. However, a few times they got so loud, they were almost thrown out. But who cared? It was a great day!

It was late evening back at the lab that night. Temperance was working on her new book and working on Sarah's mother's case at the same time. Sarah was fast asleep on the couch. Everyone else had most likely gone home, resting for the long day tomorrow. Sarah shifted restlessly in her sleep. Brennan was so zoned in her work she didn't notice.

Flashes of a horrific nightmare went through Sarah's head. Scences of Tristan dragging her and Angela and chaining them up. Tristan cutting deep into their flesh. Near the end, the sight of him bringing Brennan toward the two woke Sarah with a small scream.

Her scream did get Brennan's attention and she hurried over and sat down next to her. Sarah didn't cry but she did hug ger tightly, going over the scenes in her head. She told herself over and over that it was just a dream. It wouldn't come true. Right? After a few minutes past, Booth popped into Brennan's office.

"Bones? What are you still doing here? You and Sarah need your rest."

I had work to do, Booth. Sarah was fine coming back here for a few more hours."

He rolled his eyes and replied, "Then why is she hugging you like she was terrified of something?"

"I had a nightmare. I'll be perfectly fine," Sarah spoke up.

Booth's paternal instincts immediately kicked in. "You had a nightmare? What about? Are you ok?"

Sarah laughed, "Don't worry Booth; I'm fine. However, I don't really want to talk about it. It was just a dream, and will always just be a dream." She turned back toward Brennan. "Can we go hom now?"

She smiled and nodded but that got Booth into a slight frenzy, "Whoa, wait a minute! I have to rag on you for hours to get you to go home and she gets you to go home in one little sentence? That is NO fair!"

Sarah flexed, "Maybe I'm just that good."

* * *

On the car ride to Brennan's apartment, Sarah had fallen asleep. Booth, having gone with them, had carried her all the way to Brennan's bed, where she curled up in a ball, deep in sleep. Then the both of them had found themselves sitting on the couch in a comfortable silence with a bottle of beer in their hands.

After a while their comfortable silence slowly grew uncomfortable. Both had only one thing on their minds.

"Booth," Brennan started. "About Christmas..."

"Bones, don't worry about it," he tried to shrug it off.

"No, I feel as if I really need to talk to you about it."

Booth sighed inwardly. He had a secret about that day that he didn't exactly want her to know until the right moment, but he had to say it, so it might as well be now.

"Temperance, there's something I should tell you. Please don't get mad though. I had talked to Caroline about that condition before you did. She originally wasn't going to let you get the trailer for your family, but I convinced her to do it."

Brennan stared at Booth in shock, "So you... you had Caroline make us kiss, to satisfy both your needs?"

It was way, way too late to lie now, "Yeah."

"Booth, how could you? You talked to her just for your own selfish needs and played with my feelings. I thought you were my friend. I thought I could trust you."

Booth rushed over next to her on the couch, "Temperance, I am your friend, and you can trust me!"

She pulled away, but Booth continued to stay with her, "I was a coward, Temperance. I can take on psychos and murderers any day, but I was terrified of actually telling you how I felt. I wanted to find some way to tell you, but know you wouldn't run away like you always do when someone gets close. You know I won't leave you or betray you. I love you."

Minutes past before she finally turned to look at him. "Really?"

"Totally and completely."

She was about to say something but Sarah walked in the room, tripping over a box. Her eyes were glazed over and she was acting as if she had no idea what was going on around her, or if she wasn't paying attention.

"Sarah, are you awake?" Brennan asked tentatively.

"Of course she's awake, Bones! Why would she be walking around if she were asleep?"

"She could be sleepwalking, Booth."

Sarah seemed to have not heard them and walked out the door to Brennan's balcony. The two immediately hurried to follow her and stopped her as she walked toward the railing. Both remembered the scene over a year ago when Howard Epps jumped off the balcony and was stopped momentarily from dying by Booth. As they pulled her back inside she went limp in sleep again.

"Sarah, wake up!" Booth tried shaking her gently.

Her eyes slowly opened and then looked around here. "Whas goin on?" she mumbled sleepily.

"You were sleepwalking," Brennan replied softly.

"I was?"

Booth pulled her up, "Yeah, now let's get you back to bed. Alright?"

After she was comfortable once again in the bed, the two went back to the couch. But immediately, Sarah got back out to spy on them.

"Booth, I'm sorry about getting mad earlier. I guess emotions go the best of me this time."

"Emotions? You? No way," Booth teased.

"Booth..." Brennan smiled. "I guess now's a good time as any to tell you I feel the same way."

"And I guess now's a good time as any to copy you and ask really?"

They chuckled and their lips met in a slow kiss that Sarah had a feeling was going to become very passionate soon. So before that could happen and she would get grossed out, she rushed back to the bed as quickly as possible, smiling brightly. Angela sure was going to be ecstatic when she heard!


	9. Tickles and old friends returning

**Disclaimer: Hey, my b-day is in a few months. Maybe I'll get to own Bones then… However, I don't own Bones so I guess I'll continue writing.**

All was silent when Sarah woke up. She looked at the time and saw that Brennan's alarm clock was about to go off. She turned it off so Brennan could get a bit more sleep. Brennan was curled up on the other side of the bed and when she walked into the living room, she saw Booth fast asleep on the couch. She smiled gleefully as she remembered the night before and as quietly as she could she made breakfast for the three of them and made coffee. This had to be the one time in her life she has ever been truly happy. If her real family had been like this, it would have been the coolest. But life was a ride she just had to ride, whether she loved it or hated it.

Sarah was a pretty good cook. Tristan always claimed it was disgusting but her mom and her friends who she cooked for occasionally loved it. The eggs and pancakes that she had made were almost done when she decided to wake the adults up. Her first target was Brennan, knowing that she would need to be up earlier than Booth.

Brennan immediately woke up when Sarah shook her arm, but relaxed until she saw the time. "Why didn't my alarm clock go off? I was supposed to wake up 15 minutes ago!"

Sarah quickly tried to calm her down, "I turned it off. You looked like you needed that sleep and I took the time to make breakfast."

"Wait, you made breakfast?" she asked shocked.

"Yeah, so while it's finishing up, you get ready for work!"

She didn't even have to worry about waking Booth up. He was already awake in the kitchen, enticed by the smell of the food. I giggled and went over to flip the last of the pancakes. "Help yourself to some food, Booth. I swear I didn't poison it."

Still in a dreamlike trance from the food, he willingly got a plate and filled it up with food. When he took a bite, he nearly died. He would have to get this girl's recipes later. It was so dang good!! Sarah was so close to bursting into laughter. Most of her friends had acted the same way, but for some reason Booth doing it was more hilarious.

When Brennan entered the room, she looked from Booth, to the food, to Sarah and back to Booth again. "What's with Booth?"

"He's in love with my food," Sarah answered and finally collapsed in a fit of giggles.

"Who wouldn't be?" Booth replied back. "What's your secret?"

"If I told you, it wouldn't be a secret anymore, but I'm glad you like it."

Eventually, Sarah had managed to chill on her giggles long enough to get a plate and eat.

"We have a meeting with Sweets today," Brennan reminded Booth.

"Oh, great," he replied sarcastically.

"Who's Sweets?"

Brennan gave her a small smile. "He's our therapist." Seeing Sarah's face, she quickly summed up why they were seeing Sweets, "Booth arrested my father around 10 months ago and I guess the FBI thought we should see one so we wouldn't have any problems between us. Not that it caused any."

"Whoa, wait a second," Sarah turned to Booth, "You arrested her Dad?"

"I was just doing my job!"

She shrugged like she was over it. These two weren't fighting about it so she guessed it was fine. "He isn't that bad is he though, to be in jail?"

Brennan smiled, "He's not really that bad. I still don't know what to do or act around him, but he's ok."

"Hey, Bones. Do you think Sweets is still scared of us?" Booth asked out of no where.

"Probably."

They laughed and Sarah asked, "Why would Sweets be scared of you?"

"Because last week, everyone was a little emotional and Sweets got the brunt of most of it." Booth's phone interrupted him and he went to answer it. "Booth. Oh, hey Rebecca. Sure. Yeah, I'll be there in an hour. Bye."

After he hung up, he did a happy dance, and Sarah asked while laughing, "Are you sure you are mentally sane?"

He laughed back and replied, "Yeah, but Rebecca is going on a trip with her boyfriend and asked me to take care of Parker for the rest of the week! Oh and hey, I got an idea for a truce for Sweets! Let's use Sarah and Parker!"

"Ok, glad about the Parker thing, but what are you pulling me into?" Sarah pushed back her chair.

He gave her a secret smile, "Don't worry about it. I'm going to my apartment to get changed, then I'll pick up Parker, and then we'll meet at Sweets's office. Alright?"

He was prepared to run. The appointment was soon and Brennan and Booth were almost never late. He begged for the first couple appointments when the worst that was thrown at him was a few of Booth's intimidating statements, not the danger of books, pencils and other things. He was so deep in thought, he jumped almost 5 feet in the air at the sound of their voices. However, just as he was about to run off he heard the laughter of kids. What were kids doing here? And whose kids?

He sighed in relief. If kids were with them, then hopefully they would be peaceful during this session. When they walked in his office, he noticed that it was a little boy, maybe a few years older than toddler stage, and a young girl, maybe around 10 or 11. The fact that Booth and Brennan were laughing over something, made him relax.

"Hello, Dr. Brennan, Agent Booth. Who are these two?"

They sat down and Parker being as hyper as he was, ended up jumping onto Sarah's lap and squeezed in between her and his father. Introductions were made and then everyone was pulled into the conversation in between the two kids.

"You have to finish telling me Shrek Sarah! You promised!"

"I did and I will! I always keep my promises."

"Really?"

"Of course. I love you like a brother I never had. If I had a brother I would tell him every story I know, and in time I'll tell you all the stories I know." Sarah smiled gently and hugged him.

Hugging her back, he replied, "If I were really your brother, what else would you do?"

Sarah's smile quickly turned evil. She started to tickle him and he tried to desperately get away from her, giggling. The moment he managed to get away from her, Parker ran around the couch. She was quick to chase after him. The adults watched in amusement, not quite willing to break the two up. After a few minutes of chasing, Parker decided to hide behind Brennan, who stood up to try not to be in the middle of it.

"You know, you can't hide behind her forever. I might have to go to use more drastic measures."

"Oh yeah?" he taunted.

"What drastic measures?" Brennan asked worriedly.

"I just might have to tickle Dr. Brennan here, to get to you."

Brennan gasped, "NO!"

"You ticklish, Bones?" Booth asked with a teasing smile.

First pointing at Booth, "No!" Then at Sarah, "No!"

Parker was still hiding behind her so Sarah took action, and Booth, realizing what she was going to do, crept up behind Brennan, ready to attack. The moment the two attacked, Parker jumped out of the way and watched by Sweets. Brennan squealed in shock, horror, and laughter as she tried to dodge the 20 fingers that were busy tickling her. Everyone was laughing and after a bit, Sarah finally decided to let her go and Brennan collapsed on the couch in exhaustion.

"Wow, I'd have to say this has been the most entertaining session since we've started."

"Good thing we decided to bring Sarah and Parker today, eh?" Booth said, sitting back down on the couch.

Sweets turned toward Sarah who was sitting on the ground by the couch, "So, how did you end up with these two, Sarah?"

The mood in the room fell considerably as Sarah remembered her mom. She sighed and quietly replied, "My mom was murdered a few weeks ago. They are working the case." He looked like he was about to say something but she quickly interrupted him, "Please don't say you're sorry. She's gone and the only thing I can do is make sure the guy that did this is put away for a very, very long time. Then I can go back to living my life."

Brennan smiled softly. She felt mostly the same way when she found out her mother was dead. Sarah is a tough girl, much like Brennan, but they did have their soft sides. Sarah was tough on the outside. Wanted nothing more than the murderer put away. However, on the inside, she was so upset and scared.

The conversation was changed as soon as possible and slowly the mood became happier. About an hour later, the session was over and all four of them were back at the Jeffersonian. Brennan and Booth going over details on the platform, and Sarah and Parker were playing around in everyone's offices, but being careful not to break anything.

Parker was chasing Sarah when she accidentally ran into a tall big black man that was walking out of Brennan's office. Sarah was just starting to apologize when they heard a very loud shriek coming from the platform and was immediately recognized as Angela's as she ran over and hugged the man.

Sarah and Parker were extremely confused by this time. Angela's shriek had gotten the attention of the rest of the 'squint squad' and they all were hurrying over to them. The two kids have never seen this man, let alone heard of him. What was so exciting about him? Luckily, they got their answer very quickly.

He was slightly shocked, but not really when he was immediately hugged by Angela when they finally noticed his presence. The one thing he was shocked by though, was the fact that two kids were running around the lab quite unnoticed until they ran into him.

"Dr. Goodman! You're back!" Angela cried.

After that, there was a long series of, "Welcome back," "Great to see you," "How was your trip?"

It took a good ten minutes before the excitement of the returning doctor began to wear off. "Ok, I want to know about everything that has happened, but I would prefer you give me files and I'll go over them. I'm glad you're glad I'm back but I don't need 20 people telling me everything all at once," Dr. Goodman said firmly. "However, right now, I would like to know why two children are running in the lab. One I have no clue who she is."

Cam handed Goodman the file on Sarah. When he finished, he knelt down in front of Sarah and asked, "Ok, now that I know who you are, I would like to know why you two are running around instead of walking."

Sarah smiled guiltily, "Sorry. We were bored, started playing around… We were careful not to break anything!"

He rolled his eyes amusedly, "Fine, but do me a favor and at least try to walk from now on?"

"Ok," Parker squeaked. As the two fast walked into Brennan's office, Parker exclaimed quietly to Sarah, "Holy cow! He's HUGE!"


	10. Screaming and Games

"Dr. Goodman?" Sarah walked into his office slowly and uncertainly.

He looked up from the many files that were completely covering his desk and more. So much had happened over the past two years, and he knew that the files were only a part of it. "Is there something I can do for you, Miss Summers?"

Sarah gave him a small smile, "You can call me Sarah." She took a seat in front of him and continued, "I really wanted to apologize for running into you earlier. I seriously wasn't expecting anyone in the offices, and Bren and Ange said they didn't mind if we played in their offices. You gave me and Parker quite a scare, and I think we gave you one too."

Goodman chuckled, "You did, but as long as I don't catch you running in the lab again, I'll forgive you." He looked over another file and said, "I'm used to the being run into thing. I have twin 7 year old daughters."

"Really?" Sarah asked. Now that she thought about it, Goodman definitely looked like the father type.

He smiled and pointed at a photo on his desk while he continued laughing. Sarah looked at it and smiled sadly. They looked really and truly happy. Sarah pulled out two pictures from her back pocket and looked at them again. One was the one of and her mom at the park, and the other was the one of herself, her mom and Tristan.

"If my family was even half as perfect as yours I would be happy. I guess life has to follow its own course, good or bad, to test people like a rite of passage."

Goodman looked up again at her. "You know, Sarah, you have wisdom beyond your years. Here's a bit of wisdom for you: for every bit of bad in the world, there is always a bit of good. A run of bad luck will give you good luck in the end."

"I could agree with that. I was lucky Brennan and Booth got this case. I bet if someone else had gotten this case, I'd probably be in the foster system or in an orphanage. Bren has pretty much taken me in, at least for the duration of the case."

"Then you are lucky."

A knocking sound came from the door and both people looked over and saw Angela with another box full of files. Goodman rolled his eyes and sighed, "Put it on that table with the rest of the boxes."

Suddenly Sarah remembered something. "Oh. My. God. Angela, I just remembered something I had to tell you."

"You sound excited and happy about something. Can I assume it's juicy?"

"Very. However, I have to ask you not to scream, and not to tell anyone. Promise?"

"Completely, but this had better be good," Angela was close to squealing in excitement.

"Don't worry, it is." Sarah turned to Goodman, "I'll let you in on it too, but you gotta promise to."

"Why not? Go ahead and spit it out," he laughed. "Might as well have a bit of amusement if I'm going to be in here all day reading boring files."

Because, Angela looked like she was going to go insane if Sarah didn't start talking immediately, Sarah did. "So last night, I had a few bad dreams, and even found out I sleep walk. Booth and Bren woke me up when I was in the living room and I went back to bed. However, I spied on them while they were sitting on the couch talking. Next thing I see, they are kissing. And it most certainly wasn't just a friendly kiss on the cheek. It was a full blown out kiss."

Sarah was quick to realize that while Angela was in shock, she would definitely be screaming, so in order to make it so no one else would hear it, she quickly shut the door and put her hand over her mouth. Sure enough, Angela screamed the second Sarah's hand covered her mouth.

"NO WAY!" Ange squealed.

"Way," Sarah replied.

"This morning? Did anything happen this morning? Did they sleep together?"

"Angela! I was there! They wouldn't have done anything like that with me there."

"You are asking a kid that Angela? Is that even appropriate?" Goodman asked.

"Hey, I had to know! Spare me the lecture. Now, did they at least sleep in the same room?"

Sarah laughed at Angela's need for exact details. "Sorry to tell you, but when I woke up, Bren was in bed and Booth was on the couch."

Hodgins opened the office door and asked, "Hey Ange, you ready to go?"

Angela smacked her forehead in realization, "Sorry, Hodgins. I completely forgot. Just give me a sec and I'll be ready."

She was about ready to leave when Sarah pointed at Hodgins, "Don't even think about asking, and Ange, remember your promise. Not even he is allowed to know. Okay?"

Hodgins looked slightly upset that he was being left out of something, but Angela nodded her head to tell Sarah she would keep her promise. With a brilliant smile, Sarah hurried out and went back to the platform.

--One week later--

Everyone was positive that they had all the evidence they needed from Leanne's body, but no clues led to where Tristan could be. Now, they were just playing a waiting game. Angela was the first to crack.

"Why don't we all go and do something fun? There is seriously nothing to do here besides identify WWII victims and those are no real fun."

"Angela," Brennan tried to reason with her, "It is work, which we need to do."

"Oh come on!" She threw her hands up in the air in exasperation. "No one here has had a vacation in MONTHS! Well except for Dr. Goodman, but whatever. All of us need a break from the lab, before we all go mental."

Booth raised an eyebrow, "Sorry Angela, but it likes you are the one going mental."

"Can't we all have at least one day to relax and have some fun?" she almost cried.

It took an hour to convince everyone to go, five seconds to decide where to go, an hour to prepare and go to the store for much needed items, and thirty minutes to arrive at the location. Where did they go? The beach! Along with the squints, Sarah, and Booth were Parker, and Goodman's wife, whose name was Pat, and children, Julie and Tricia. Within minutes, everyone had their sunscreen on, towels laid out, and rushed out into the water.

Sarah, Parker, Julie, Tricia, Angela, and Brennan were playing with a Frisbee. Brennan, Julie, and Sarah vs. Tricia, Angela, and Parker. Pat and Cam were chatting. Booth, Hodgins, Zach and Goodman were all playing football. Booth and Zach vs. Hodgins and Goodman. Minus the laughing and yelling from the games, it was a quiet, beautiful day. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. That is until…

Angela tossed the Frisbee a good distance but the wind helped bring it back closer to the group. Julie, being closest to it, hurried and got it and threw it back to the other side. Suddenly, Julie fell forward with a slight scream and went under. Sarah was having fun, but she knew better than to let her guard down so the instant she went under, she quickly screamed Julie's name just before diving under. Brennan was quick to follow.

The guy's heard Sarah's scream and quickly looked to see what the problem was. As they watched Brennan dive after Sarah and Julie, their world seemed to freeze.


	11. Full blown confession

**Disclaimer: Nope, still not mine.**

She noticed a huge dark shape not too far ahead of her. She swam as quickly as she possibly could to the shape. There was another shape beside her, but she saw the light brown hair and knew it was Dr. Brennan. Sarah focused on the shape in front of her and saving Julie.

Seconds felt like minutes as Sarah's lungs began to burn from lack of oxygen. 'Must get air.' 'But Julie needs air more than I do!' Sarah swam next to a rock and used it to push off for a quick burst of speed. With the speed, she managed to grab a hold of the swimmer's ankle. She tried her hardest to pull to the surface, but he was too strong, and he was pulling her farther down into the ocean. He had breathing gear, he could probably stay underwater for a couple hours, but Sarah was dangerously close to passing out. She felt someone else pulling on her arm just as she started seeing the dots, 'Must have air now!' With the second person pulling, they started moving toward the surface. The man tried to break free but Brennan managed to grab a hold of him too and pulled.

Everyone was in shock. The seconds seemed to be minutes. It wasn't until they saw Brennan's head come above water did everyone rush over to them. A second after her was Sarah, then the diver, and then an unconscious, maybe dead, Julie. Luckily for the diver, Booth was the one to reach the group first and immediately dragged the man onto shore, where he grabbed his handcuffs out of his pants pocket. Goodman was livid, Sarah and Brennan were coughing up water, Julie was laid out on a towel, where Booth was about to perform CPR as he left the diver in Goodman's care, and Angela called 911. Everyone else was in shock.

They all breathed out a sigh of relief when Julie finally started coughing. Less than a minute later a few ambulances arrived. When Booth was sure Julie was going to be fine, he finally turned his attention to the diver. Sarah was curious too about this man and went over to him with Booth. When the mask was taken off, Sarah stepped back in horror.

Booth, also almost freaked at who was in front of him. This man was the same man Sarah had fought two weeks ago in that apartment building, however, Sarah knew this man from somewhere else. This man was Tristan's closest, most trusted friend, Jared Pound. Not only was this man completely involved in the case of Leanne's death, he also had somehow managed to escape from prison.

--One hour later: FBI Interrogating room—

"I'll ask you this one more time," Booth's fist slammed on the table. "How did you escape?"

Jared just stared defiantly at Booth and refused to answer. Sarah, Brennan, and Cullen watched from behind the one way mirror.

"He's not getting anywhere with him," Cullen sighed. There obviously was a reason this man was a trusted friend of a murderer, and apparently he was going to keep that standing.

"Let me go in," Sarah begged softly.

It was the tenth time she had asked that and of course Cullen's answer was the same, "Sarah, you are ten years old, and you want to go in that room with an attempted murderer? My answer remains a no."

She walked defiantly in front of him. "I know him better than any of your agents, Mr. Cullen. I think he could be a good guy. He just can't do anything good with Tristan around. Maybe if he knew Tristan wasn't here and I was asking the questions with this guy, I probably could get much needed information out of him. Besides, I can have Booth in there to keep me safe."

Sarah knew Cullen was going to not let her in there no matter how much she begged, but now she was determined. She ran out of the room and into the interrogation room. Booth and Jared looked up when she entered, and she could easily imagine Cullen cursing in the monitor room.

Jared smiled and said his first words all day long, "Well, well, well. It's nice to see you again Sarah."

"Likewise," Sarah took a seat in front of him and flashed him a smile. "You are finally getting your chance to talk to me, after all these years. No Tristan, and as long as you don't think of hurting me, no guns or fists in your face."

He laughed and leaned forward, "So, what do you want to know?"

Booth stared at the interaction in shock, "Wait a second. I sat here yelling for the past 15 minutes, and got no word out of him, but yet, Sarah walks in and she gets him to talk before she does. And she's acting friendly towards him!"

Cullen burst through the door and asked, "What the hell do you think you are doing Miss Summers?"

"Getting answers!" she yelled. "Back off now or I won't be able to get any. I want this over with as much as you do!"

She sighed when both men shut up but stayed just a foot behind her. She knew she was going to just have to deal with it.

"Alright, now why don't you just start off at the beginning," she said.

"Figured," he rolled his eyes. His expression sobered when he started his story. "Fifteen years ago, my wife and I had broken up. His first woman he targeted was her. We had a five year old daughter who stayed in her custody. He became her boyfriend by the end of the week and but the start of the next week, I found out she was dead. I went after him, but he had my daughter. He said if I wanted her to live, then I would have to do anything and everything he said.

"I would do everything to keep her alive. He really liked torturing women. After an extremely close call involving one of his women almost escaping to a family member of hers, he threatened to kill her if I didn't kill their family members before he actually picked them up. I had to make it look as if it was a completely natural death so there would be no investigations. The one thing I always fought against was killing those with kids. There was no way I would have been able to do it."

"So am I correct in saying you killed my mother's family?" Sarah asked.

He nodded, "Your family was probably the hardest to kill." He pulled something out of his back pocket and Booth looked ready to jump at him, but when he showed a folded up photo, he relaxed some. Sarah took it and saw herself, Booth and Brennan on that first day they all met.

Booth almost went into pissed mode when he heard what Jared said next. "I was told to kill all three of you on sight, including you Sarah. Tristan was pretty mad when you managed to escape him after murdering your mom. He went even crazier after I failed to kill the woman and you at that old apartment complex."

Remembering that day, Sarah quickly asked, "What happened to the family in that apartment I fought you in? You didn't kill them, did you?"

He gave her a small smile, "No, I didn't. They weren't home."

Sarah sighed in relief and told him, "Continue."

"There is a place were Tristan can stay hidden at your house. The entrance happens to be right by the cellar door. He often watched you there when you thought he was out. That's why I always mean to you. Do you remember that journal you found a year ago, Sarah?" At her nod, he continued, "In that journal is everything you need to know about Tristan's past. It is still where you found it, and I suggest you get it. He isn't there, as he knows that the FBI are still going over the place and he needs to be able to get in and out of a place without being caught."

Sarah stood at the information and was about to walk back out when Booth grabbed her arm, "He still hasn't told us how he escaped from jail."

"Booth, add two and two together." He was still confused. "Tristan. Tristan broke him out, and will probably do it again."

When she still wasn't let go of, she told Booth, "He's done with his story, Booth. He won't say another word."

He sighed and they walked out. Soon, Booth, Brennan and Sarah were back at Sarah's house and immediately they walked into her parent's room. She stood on the bed and pulled off the vent and grabbed the book that was behind it.

Sarah opened it and after skimming the first page she said, "This is it."

They knew the place still wasn't completely safe yet so they decided to go back to the Jeffersonian. On the way there, Sarah read the journal, but it became painfully clear exactly why this book was everything to this case.

"Jared was right. This book has everything about Tristan's past. All the names of the women he killed, the places they were murdered, and then the rest is all his ramblings of why he does what he does. It's practically a full blown confession."

Booth and Brennan glanced at the other in pure horror. "How many names are in that book?"

Sarah went over every page, counting in her head. "61 are dead and there is another 14 that could be alive."


	12. When shopping becomes terrorizing

**Disclaimer: Nope, still not mine.**

Booth almost drove off the road at what Sarah just announced. 61 dead and 14 possibly are? What kind of man could do that to all of those women?

"Booth, one of the places is close to where we are now. Think we should check it out?" Sarah asked.

As soon as he got the address, Booth turned on the siren and sped to the location. Once they arrived Brennan pulled out her big gun from her purse and Sarah laughed when she saw it.

"Wow, Bren. Loving the gun."

"Yeah, well, I'd prefer she didn't have a gun," Booth said before getting out the bullet proof vests and handing it to them.

"I shot someone who was about to set me on fire in the leg and then I killed the man that almost killed you and you still think I shouldn't have a gun?" Brennan defied him.

"Yup, and now you guys need to be careful. We don't know what's inside."

In front of them was an old warehouse. The door squeaked loudly as Booth pushed it open. While they couldn't see anything in the dark of the building, they could easily smell the smell of decomposing bodies. Turning on their flash lights, they quickly noticed two bodies, side by side. Brennan hurried over next to them.

"Both are female. One is an adolescent, around 5 through 7 years old. The other is in her late twenties. I'd guess they've been dead for a few months."

Sarah opened the journal to the page on these two. "Journal says its Laura and Megan Page. Laura is 28 and Megan is 6. The date is January 16th."

"Alright, so how about we get these bodies to the Jeffersonian and we get some more clues?" Booth asked, eager to get as many clues as possible to lead them to Tristan.

"Unless you can somehow manage to unlock these locks or get the pole out of the ground without damaging the bodies, you'll find that impossible," Brennan stated.

Sarah rushed over to the bodies and took a look at the locks, "Hey Bren, do you have a hairpin I could possibly use?"

"You can unlock the locks?" Booth asked, shocked.

Sarah smirked, "Well, when you wake up one morning to find you have been kidnapped by gang members and locked up, you better have a damn good way of getting yourself out fast before they come back and kill you."

Brennan took out a pin out of her hair and handed it over to Sarah. Immediately, she started working on the locks. Within seconds, both were off their victims and both Brennan and Booth were looking on in shock. Sarah was shocked by the fact that they were still surprised at all she knew.

"Ok, now we can get the bodies out of here," Sarah smiled, breaking the silence.

--One hour later—

"Everything so far is the same as Tristan wrote it in his book," Brennan sighed. "Why isn't there something else that tells us something we don't know?"

Brennan was so close to wanting to give up. There was absolutely no more evidence to help them with this case. Booth went to the other places Tristan murdered women, Hodgins, Cam, and Zach hadn't found anything surprising in the bodies, Sarah was looking to see if their family members were dead, and Angela was looking for the 14 other women that could possibly be alive. She hoped those women were alive, not just because they could give them potential evidence, but because she saw through Sarah, Leanne, Megan and Laura the torture they endured. Once Tristan was caught, those women could have a piece of mind that they won't be tortured by him ever again.

"Sarah, once we are done, I need to take you shopping," Angela said as she was pouring over the internet looking for any information on the women.

Sarah laughed, "Why?"

"Because, those clothes you are wearing are extremely worn and they probably fit a 5 year old better than you. Besides, I could use a shopping trip too."

"Well I don't think I could argue with that," she smiled. However she frowned when she clicked onto another internet page. "Angela, looks like Jared was right."

"What? Really?" Angela hurried over to Sarah and looked at what she had.

"All of Laura's family members are dead, including kids." She clicked on a few more links, and showed Angela pictures of their bodies before burial. She pointed at one of the bodies, "I think this one was given an injection that killed them instantly, or almost instantly. There's an indentation where the needle was inserted." She pointed at a second one. "This one was strangled to death. There is a light bruising around the neck, probably overlooked when the body was found."

"Oh my god," Angela gasped.

"I think I can also tell which ones were killed by Tristan and which ones were killed by Jared. Jared mentioned during the interrogation that he refused to kill the families with kids. The people who had kids all showed signs of strangulation, while the ones without kids show signs of a lethal injection."

"That is horrible! Who in their right minds could kill children?"

"Obviously my step-father," Sarah sighed. "What about you? Any of the other women alive?"

"So far four are dead, but seven are still alive. I'm going to give their addresses to Booth so he can talk to them as soon as I figure out what happened to the last three," she replied as she went back to her desk.

"Ok, I'll go tell Brennan what we got so far."

Sarah printed the information and then got up and walked to the door but before she could go through Angela quickly reminded her, "Remember, when we're done, shopping!"

"Don't worry, I won't forget."

Brennan was sitting at her desk in her office, going over a ton of files. Sarah knocked gently, and she looked up, "What do you two have?"

"So far, four of the women are dead, and seven of them are alive, and Angela is still looking for the last three. All of the family members of the victims are dead; Tristan strangled some of them, while Jared gave the rest lethal injections, probably the very same as the ones used for capital punishment."

"How did you know how the family members were killed and who killed them?" Brennan asked, confused. "Jared never said anything about that."

"That's the nice thing about the internet," Sarah smiled. "They got pictures of the bodies and with the other hints that Jared gave us, we got conformation. The family members of all Tristan's victims are all dead."

She handed the file to her and Brennan looked through it. "Wow, I guess it does make sense."

"Jared used a technique that killed the victims instantly, and probably used it while they were sleeping. He hated the fact he had to kill people just so his daughter would live, so he made his victims go through as little pain as possible." Brennan nodded at Sarah's thinking and Sarah continued. "Again as Jared said, Tristan loved to torture women. He also loved watching his victims in pain. I know that from personal experience. He probably strangled them in daylight and in front of their loved ones."

"This Tristan guy has to be some sick bastard," Angela stated as she walked in the room with another file which she handed to Bren. "The other three women are alive and well. I figured to let you call Booth with the news."

"Thanks Ange, I will."

Angela grabbed Sarah's arm as Bren reached for her phone to call Booth. The two started to talk about how many awesome outfits they thought they'd be able to find. They were just about out the door when they were stopped by Dr. Goodman.

"Miss Montenegro, where do you think you are going?"

She smiled, "Shopping." When he gave her a slight glare, she gave him an explanation, "Until Booth comes back with more bodies, we aren't needed. Besides, Sarah desperately needs new clothes."

He rolled his eyes and laughed, "Women always find their excuses to go shopping. Fine!"

They laughed and continued on their way. Once they were in the car, Angela immediately asked, "Anything happen with Booth and Brennan yet? I haven't been able to get anything from Bren yet, minus the fact she seems kinda happier."

"Well," Sarah tried to drag it out, just to torture Angela.

"Oh, come on! You're a girl, and you know how a girl has to have her juicy gossip."

"Ok, ok. Well, tonight I'm going to stay the night with Booth in Parker's room. Bren, I think, could be staying over too."

"How far away is Parker's room from Booth's room?"

"Well, I haven't been there yet, but from what I overheard them saying, Parker's room is on the other side of the apartment."

"Fantastic!"

"What?"

"It means they might sleep together," Angela said with an evil smile.

"Angela!" Sarah gasped.

"What? I've been trying to get them together for over two years! I need you to get me all the juicy details, because I know Bren won't!"

"ANGELA! ARE YOU TRYING TO TRAUMATIZE ME FOR LIFE?" Sarah almost screamed, but had a hard time because she was practically laughing. "I'm only ten and you're trying to get me to watch them? That's gross!"

"Dang it," Angela snapped her fingers in mock disappointment. "Well at least you gotta be able to tell me if they actually did it."

Sarah rolled her eyes and gave in. "Fine, but I might not be able to."

"Why not?"

"Because, they might wait a few hours to make sure I'm sleeping before they actually do it. I might be able to last about an hour before falling asleep but that's about it."

"Well, we might be able to figure out in the morning," Angela thought. She began telling Sarah all the signs that she should look for in the morning between the two.

--Five hours later--

Angela's phone rang as they were just walking out of the store, their arms almost completely covered in bags. Angela tried to reach for her phone but almost dropped half of her bags. Sarah managed to get it for her and handed it to her. It was Brennan. She put it on speaker phone.

"Hey sweetie, how's it going back at the lab?"

"Booth arrived with about 20 of the bodies; we need you to come back for facial reconstruction."

"Don't worry; we just walked out the door 20 seconds ago. We're on our way back."

Sarah glanced behind her and what she saw made her whisper, "Oh crap."

"What's wrong?"

"Bren, I need everyone on your end to be as quiet as possible. Angela, I need you not to freak out and not to look behind you. Tristan is following us," Sarah said loud enough for Brennan and the squints to hear, but quiet enough so Tristan didn't hear a word.

The car finally came into view and Sarah said again quietly, "When I get to three, I need you to run as fast as you possibly can to the car. If you can, go around other cars so if he has a gun, he might not hit you."

At the lab, everyone was standing still with looks of pure horror on their faces. They did as Sarah told them to and stayed quiet, and they listened to every word that was said.

"1…2…" Sarah couldn't even get to three before the sound of gun shots and screams filled the room.


	13. Captured!

The crime scene told them nothing new, except for the fact that chances were good that Angela and Sarah are alive and their lives are in the hands of that murderous bastard, Tristan. Everyone was working harder than ever to try to find them. Booth and Brennan went to every single place in the journal immediately, praying that one of them would lead them to their friends.

All day.

No results.

They knew Angela and Sarah wouldn't have much time left. They knew Tristan was probably pissed a million times over thanks to Sarah's escapades. The team was all back from the lab by 9 that night, and there were still no leads whatsoever leading them to the two missing friends.

"What are we missing?" Hodgins asked, exasperated. "It has to be something, something right in front of us, we just can't see it."

"Well, do something to make us be able to see it, because we don't have forever!" Booth yelled.

Dr. Goodman interjected, "Agent Booth, we will find it in time, but the longer we panic about it, the longer it will take."

"Dr. Goodman is right," Brennan sighed. "We need to take a deep breath, and act like this is another case."

Everyone stared at her like she was stupid. Hodgins was the first to speak, "Are you crazy? Angela is our best friend, and my fiancée, and Sarah has quickly become a close friend of ours. She's like a daughter, to all of us. We can't just treat this as a normal case!"

She closed her eyes and tried to calm herself. "I'm not saying we just forget that they are our friends, but I'm saying we need to detach ourselves so we can solve this. If we don't, we might as well just tell Tristan to murder them now, because we are focusing on the things we already know, but not focusing on the clues that are in front of us from what we know that will tell us everything."

Cam sighed, "It makes sense. Besides, we have always been able to catch the bad guy. Why should Tristan be any different?"

"Remember Howard Epps?" Zach asked.

Booth rolled his eyes, "Who could forget? Why is he important?"

"You saved Helen Majors' life because we managed to put the clues together and figured out where she was. Dr. Brennan is right in this case. If we focus on the clues, we will find them."

"Okay then, what do we have?" Booth asked.

Brennan spoke up immediately, "Tristan's journal."

Booth sighed in frustration. 'This is still going no where,' he thought to himself.'

"All the journal has is the names of the people he murdered and where he killed them. We've been through it a million times now."

Hodgins sighed as well. "We do have the bodies of Leanne and the rest of Tristan's victims. Maybe there is something we missed."

Brennan interrupted them, "No, the bodies will have nothing new. It's the journal we need."

"Why?" Zach asked, confused.

"Think about it this way. Each family was killed in either their home or an abandoned warehouse. However, different families were never killed in the same places. My guess is that Sarah and Angela are held in one of Tristan's old homes or a warehouse."

Zach rolled his chair over to a computer and quickly pulled up a map and dots quickly filled the page. He typed in some things and many of the dots went away, and then he grabbed the journal and began typing new information in. When he finished, he sighed. There were still too many dots.

"I tried to narrow down our search. Places he never lived, buildings and warehouses that weren't abandoned, places he killed his victims. I can't think of anything else to rule out."

Booth turned to Brennan, "Got any more ideas?"

Silently she shook her head.

* * *

Sarah's eyes slowly opened, and slowly they got used to the dark. The memory of what happened to her wasn't all to clear although she did have a general idea. There was a sharp pain in her leg, and her shoulder was throbbing. She could feel the blood beginning to dry. As the minutes passed, light began coming through the cracks in the walls. Daybreak. They had been here either a few days or just overnight so far.

A groan from behind her startled her for a second, "Angela? Are you ok?"

"It feels as if I've been shot," her voice grumbled. "Where are we?"

"The place looks pretty familiar, but I can't really remember."

They were tied up to two chairs and their hands were bound by handcuffs wrapped around a pipe. Sarah tried to get a good look at the lock but with the gunshot wound in her shoulder, she couldn't muster up the strength to pull herself up. She sat back and sighed. This time getting away from the bad guys was going to be tough.

"Do you think they will find us in time?" Angela asked.

"Maybe, but we can try to give them as much time as possible."

"How can we do that when we are bound like this?"

Sarah tried to turn around as much as possible to look at Angela. She smiled when she noticed something shiny in her hair.

"Angela, I need you to turn your head as far to the left as you possibly can. I need your hairpin."

Angela didn't question her as she moved her head over to Sarah. Sarah managed to get a hold of the pin with her teeth and slowly pulled it out. With their escape in her hands, she forced her body to ignore the pain and pull herself high enough in order to get the hairpin in her hands. It took longer to unlock the lock of the handcuffs because she couldn't actually look into it, but after a few minutes, she heard the beautiful sound of the cuffs coming off of her wrists. She began working on the ropes that bound the two of them to the chair when she heard the loud bang of a door from the floor above them. They froze in horror.

* * *

The team had worked all throughout the night. When early morning came, everyone needed a caffeine boost but no one really wanted to get it. They didn't know how much time Sarah and Angela had left so they had to keep working. Eventually, Brennan offered to go and rushed off. Luckily for her, it was early enough that few people were on the streets but late enough that the diner was open.

Inside the diner, there was only two women behind the counter, a man in his early twenties, and a heavy set man who seemed familiar to her but she didn't really pay attention. While the women were making the coffee for her, the heavy set man got up to leave. It wasn't until Temperance watched him turn into a corner did it become painfully obvious who he was. Just then, one of the women handed her the coffees and she fast-walked her way to the man who had just turned into an alley. She hoped that she was wrong but she did hope in a way that she was right.

She turned into the alley and stared into the darkness, trying to see if the man was here. She heard a sound from behind her and as she spun around, something the shape of a bat or a tire iron made contact with her skull. As Brennan's world began to fade to black, she got her first close up view in person of the murderous kidnapper, Tristan.

* * *

Fifteen minutes.

She should be grabbing the coffee now and be on her way back, Booth told himself. She would be fine.

Thirty minutes.

He could hear her now, 'Don't worry about me, Booth. I'll be fine.' She was probably just stuck in traffic.

Forty-five minutes.

Booth began to let himself worry. Where is she?

One hour.

He and her squints were frantically calling her cell. All calls immediately went to voice mail. What happened to her? Where is she?

One hour, five minutes.

Booth went speeding off to the diner to find her.

Was her phone off? Left at the Jeffersonian? Dead? Did something happen to her? Did Tristan manage to get a hold of her too? Those were the frantic questions Booth begged to have the answers to. He drove extremely dangerously, dodging the many cars that had begun to gather, forming the morning traffic. After a few minutes, Booth arrived at the diner and the second he saw the women behind the counter, he went over to question them.

He pulled out his badge and two photos, but skipped the introductions. There was no time for friendly conversation when now three lives were in extreme danger of being lost. He pointed at pictures of Temperance and Tristan, "Have you seen either of these two in here this morning?"

The oldest of the two nodded. "The man came in here a little over an hour ago. The woman came in maybe ten minutes after him. After the woman ordered, the man got up and left. She seemed to watch him while she waited for her coffee and the second it was given to her, she took off like a madman."

"What way did they go?"

She pointed to the alley in between the two buildings down the street and he ran over there to try to see if he could find anything. While he ran, he swore. Of course, it was just like Temperance to go running off after some murderer and not tell him about it, and now she is probably his newest victim. One of the diner coffee cups rolled out into the street and his suspicions were confirmed. He hurried over into the alley and nearly fainted at what he saw. Nothing could have stopped the emotions going through his head at that moment. A pool of blood lay before him and he knew that with the amount of blood that was here, his partner, Temperance Brennan, was either dead or, unless she had immediate medical attention, was going to be dead soon.


	14. The waiting game

**Disclaimer: Still not mine.**

Booth pulled his cell phone out and called the lab. Hodgins answered.

"Booth, you find her?"

Booth's voice was filled with anger, but when he spoke Hodgins knew the anger wasn't directed at him, "He took her. That bastard took her."

"We might know where he has them. There was an apartment building Sarah lived in. There's an abandoned warehouse practically in her backyard."

Booth rushed to his car, his mind in overdrive, "Is it the apartment complex just outside of D.C.?"

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"We went there the morning after we first went to Sarah's place. How did you guys come up with that?" Booth asked as he began driving to the apartment.

"We realized that none of the murders happened inside any of the apartment buildings and that's where the warehouses came in. All the warehouses that the victims were murdered in were less than a mile away from the apartment complex they lived in."

"You couldn't have gotten that a couple hours ago?" Booth asked angrily.

"Dude, we're working as hard and as fast as possible. You're going to be able to get this bastard, Booth. You will be able to save them," Hodgins tried to tell him.

"No, I won't," his eyes closed briefly. "Bones might be dead already."

"You said might, Booth. She could still be alive. Go save her like you always do."

Sarah rushed the rest of the way through the ropes. They listened frightfully as they heard the footsteps from above. Sarah tried to work on Angela's handcuffs but she froze again when the door to the downstairs. Angela stopped her.

"Sarah, leave me here and go get help. I can try to hold off Tristan for as long as possible. We can't let him get away these murders."

"Angela, if he kills you…" Sarah sighed. "I have to get you out of here."

Footsteps grew closer, and now they could tell the person was dragging something.

"Go!" Angela whispered frantically.

She was torn but the look on Angela's face and the footsteps made her hurry off with a last look. She tried to navigate her way throughout the maze of boxes without running into Tristan. Sarah finally reached the door and was about to go through when she heard a yell quickly followed by a scream. She gasped and quickly ran back to Angela as fast as she possibly could.

Back-up would be arriving soon, but that didn't stop Booth from silently making his way through the warehouse. He had gotten a glimpse of Tristan dragging his partner into the building but he couldn't tell if she was still alive or not. Luckily for Booth, there had been a slight layer of dirt covering the ground and he could see where he dragged Brennan. He heard a scream when he made it downstairs that was followed by a gasp that seemed close by. Who was it that gasped?

His answer was immediately answered as he saw a bruised and bloody Sarah running through the rows towards the back of the building. Booth followed. She turned a corner and he heard her trip over something that was succeeded by an angry growl. He saw her run as hard as she can to the end of the row where he saw Tristan with a knife to Angela's neck.

Sarah managed to tackle him, knocking the knife out of his reach. She started throwing punches at him but was quickly overpowered as Tristan's shock wore off. Soon she was underneath him being strangled. Booth leapt into action and knocked him out and pushed him off of Sarah as he had collapsed on her. Sarah laid there, gasping for air.

Angela was staring at the scene in complete shock. She had screamed when she saw him dragging Brennan and was terrified. If he could hurt Brennan like that, she didn't know how long she could have held him off. Within a second that knife was at her throat and he was threatening her to tell him where Sarah went or she would die. When at first Sarah had tackled him she was relieved but shocked. Sarah didn't leave to try to save her. Why? Then Booth appeared and she was confused. No way had she gotten Booth's help in less than a minute unless he was already here. By Sarah's shocked and relieved expression, she had no clue Booth had been here either.

Sarah managed to get up and she made her way over to Angela to get her free while Booth went and checked Brennan for a pulse. When Angela was free, both hurried over to Brennan's side and Sarah asked, "She have a pulse?"

"It's faint, but there," Booth replied. "Can you two walk?"

They nodded and Angela asked tentatively, "Think she'll be ok?"

"God, I hope so." Effortlessly, he picked Brennan up and thankfully, back-up arrived and they took Tristan. Paramedics helped them return to the outside and into the ambulances.

After some surgery and stitches, Doctors said that Angela and Sarah would be fine, as long as infection didn't set in. Brennan on the other hand needed a blood transfusion, had a concussion, and was in a coma. Like with Sarah's case weeks ago, the doctors didn't know when she would wake up, though they were confident that when she did wake up, she would most likely be ok.

The squints arrived at the hospital just shortly before Booth. All of them waited the several hours before they knew Sarah and Angela would be fine and then even longer for Brennan. Doctors placed Sarah and Angela in the same room when the rest of the squints and Booth were with them.

While they were waiting for the doctors to let them visit Brennan, they talked.

"Hey, Booth, didn't I say this morning that you'd save them," Hodgins said with a smile.

"Yeah, and you're lucky we're in a hospital right now."

Zach asked, "Why? I'd prefer no one be in the hospital."

"Because, I'd shoot Hodgins."

"I'd prefer you don't shoot the team, Booth," Cam said and laughed alongside the rest of them

"So Booth," Hodgins started. "I noticed Angela seemed pretty happy about something ever since Goodman came back, but I don't think it's just because he came back. What's been going on with you and Dr. Brennan?"

.He crossed his arms and denied, "We're just partners, nothing more."

"I doubt that, Agent Booth," Goodman laughed. To Hodgins he said, "Sarah told us they were seeing each other."

Booth stared in shock, "When did she find out?"

"I don't now," Cam stated, "but this isn't a surprise to me."

"How?"

She smirked, "I saw the two of you kissing in Dr, Brennan's office."

"Before Christmas?"

"No, just last week." She thought for a second. "Wait a second; this has been going on since Christmas? How could you keep it a secret for that long?"

"I… we… Caroline made us do it."

"Dude," Hodgins interrupted, "don't worry about it. We're all totally happy with it. We've seriously been waiting for it since you two met."

Booth rolled his eyes and then he sighed, "God, if she doesn't wake up, I don't know what I'll do."

"Hey man, I was right that you would save them, so I'll tell you this. She will wake up. Trust me."

"Don't worry Booth," Cam said. "Dr. Brennan is too strong let something like this keep her down for long. Before you know it, she'll be up and running around again."

He hoped Cam was right. Until then, it was just a waiting game. When it came to Bones, however, having to wait was not something Booth wanted to do. He prayed she would wake up soon.


	15. Hodgins small car

**Disclaimer: when I own Bones the world will know it. You don't know if I own Bones so then I don't. See easy peasy.**

Looks like Hodgins was right once again. Sarah and Angela were just about ready to go home when Brennan woke up. And, of course, she was already trying to get out of bed completely against the doctor's orders. A few days later, she was allowed to go home if she had complete bed rest for a week. Brennan had grumbled a bit but as she put it, it's better than staying at the hospital. Everyone was mostly happy.

One thing, however, that they weren't so happy about was the fact that now Tristan was in custody, he would be having his trial soon. They were absolutely sure Tristan would be convicted of the murders, but the closer the trial came, the closer the time Sarah would have to leave them, would come. Good news was, Jared's daughter had been found alive and was going to be fine, given a couple weeks.

* * *

The entire team, minus Brennan and Booth, went with Sarah to collect her belongings. Many of her clothes were put in good will boxes, because they didn't fit. Her few cds, cd player, books, and her dissecting kit went in a box for her to keep. The last room they went in was her mom's room. Sarah breathed in the deep scent of her mom's perfume. Unconsciously, she moved towards the dresser where the bottle was.

Sarah tried to put the bottle in her pocket but it fell and rolled underneath the bed. She reached under the bed to get it, but however, her hands found a stack of books. After pulling them out, she opened the first page.

June 17, 1996

All is his stuff is gone. He really meant it. We've agreed not to keep in contact but I really wish we could. Somehow, I just get this feeling something's wrong with me. Not like about what he thinks of me, but more like something is wrong with my body. I made an appointment with the doctor this morning. You know, I just thought; what if I'm pregnant? I really don't want to be a single mom like so many others. I grew up in a huge family, but I still know nothing about parenting. Hopefully, I'm wrong and just being paranoid.

"What did you find, Sarah?" Goodman asked, finding her sitting beside the bed.

"I found her diaries. This one goes back to almost twelve years ago, around the time she found out she was pregnant with me."

Hodgins took a look at the date, "Today's is the 5th of April. That means your birthday is coming up."

Sarah giggled, "I'll finally be eleven in eight days." A sudden realization hit her. "Tristan's trial begins tomorrow. Once this is over, I'm going into foster care, aren't I?"

Angela sat down beside her, "Believe us when we say we are trying as hard as we can to keep you with us as long as possible."

"I hope so," she sighed. "I want at least some stability in my life."

Angela hopped back up and pulled Sarah with her, "Hey, let's cheer up. We have a party to plan!"

* * *

"Booth, I'm perfectly capable of getting things myself."

He smiled and gently pushed Brennan back to her bed. "Where would the fun be in that?"

She scoffed, "Taking care of me is fun?"

"Always."

Brennan smiled as she pulled him down with her on the bed. "I don't believe you."

"It has its advantages," he replied mischievously, as he began making a trail of kisses down her neck.

"I guess it does," Brennan sighed in happiness.

They were interrupted suddenly by a timer from the kitchen. Booth cursed and attempted to get up but was stopped by Brennan trying to keep him next to her.

"Bones," he grumbled. "I can't let dinner burn. Besides, you have to be hungry."

She shook her head and flatly denied it. However, her stomach told Booth otherwise in a loud growl and she resolved to stare murderously at it.

He laughed, "You sit tight and I'll get you some dinner."

Her phone rang as Booth hurried to save the food and Brennan rolled over and got it. It was Angela.

"Hey sweetie, how you feeling?"

"Apparently hungry."

"Hungry for a certain someone I hope."

Sarah's voice could be heard clearly, "Angela!"

"Do you have me on speaker phone, Ange?" Brennan gasped.

"No, but we just had to drive Hodgins car to Sarah's house, and it being as small as it is, we got people sitting on people's laps, and Sarah's on mine."

"How come I'm the one being sat on instead sitting on someone else's lap?" Cam's voice came through faintly.

Hodgins replied, "Because Zach's the idiot who got lost."

"Hey! You all tried to leave without me."

"Oh my God," Brennan gasped. "You guys didn't, did you?"

"Don't worry sweetie, we were only teasing Zach."

"And now I'm paying the price for it," Cam groaned. Her voice was louder, so Brennan assumed Angela put it on speaker phone.

Suddenly, about four 'Oww's came from the phone and Sarah asked, "Hodgins, do you have to drive over every single bump in D.C?"

"I take it Hodgins is very lucky to be the driver?" Brennan asked in sympathy.

"He ain't going be so lucky when we get home," Angela replied.

Hodgins surrendered, "Ok, ok, I'll slow down and avoid the bumps!"

Brennan laughed, and Booth came in with the food. "Hey, Ange, I got to go."

"Oh, Bren. Sarah's birthday is in eight days and we are going to celebrate at our place," Angela quickly put in. "You have to be there! No excuses!"

"Don't worry, I'll be there."

She hung up and Booth handed her a huge plate of spaghetti. "You really don't expect me to eat all this do you?"

He laughed, "That's the concept of leftovers, Bones. Eat later what you can't now."

Brennan smiled. If she wasn't to get out of bed the next six days, she was going to find some way to enjoy it.


	16. Happy Birthday Sarah!

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

"No! No! No! No! No!"

Booth, Hodgins, and Goodman watched in interest as Brennan, Angela, Cam, and Pat tried to make Sarah's birthday party perfect. Right now, Brennan was trying to stop someone from putting balloons next to a rose bush but ultimately failed as the wind picked up for a few seconds and the handful of balloons popped. Pat was being a perfectionist when it came to the icing on the cake. Cam stopped a group of kids from eating the candy that's supposed to be in the piñata. Angela was directing twenty some people putting up decorations. Rebecca had taken Sarah out with Parker to a movie while the party was getting set up. They would be back in about an hour so everyone was going crazy. Well, minus the guys, that is.

That is why the three of them were sitting in the attic watching out the window. The girls had managed to catch Zach about thirty minutes ago and scared him into helping. They knew that everyone was told to bring the three of them to the girls. They were just going to have to wait until Sarah arrived.

"Women," Booth sighed.

"Yeah," Hodgins sighed with him.

Goodman grabbed Booth's wrist and check the time, "Forty more minutes. Getting bored yet?"

"Course not! The shorter time they have left, the more crazed they get. They won't calm down until Sarah gets here and tells them what a great job they did. And then once the party is over, they will have us guys clean everything up," Booth replied.

While Hodgins stared at Booth in shock, Goodman wasn't surprised, "Rebecca?"

"Rebecca," he said with a small smile.

Finally, they saw Rebecca's car began coming up the driveway and all three rushed downstairs and outside. Ironically, all the women were waiting for them to appear. They didn't even have to look at them because they knew they would be in huge trouble. Lucky for them, they heard two loud squeals which happened to come from an ecstatic Sarah and Parker when they saw the party.

Within approximately five seconds, the two kids found the group of adults and Sarah immediately gasped, "This is the COOLEST party ever!"

"This is probably the first party you've been to," Angela laughed.

Sarah just shrugged, "Maybe, but this is still the coolest party ever."

For about thirty minutes they all played games like basketball and tag and then Sarah started to beg to be able to open her presents. Booth got her Brennan's second novel. Hodgins got her her own racing beetle. Angela made a sketch of all of them and included Sarah's mom in it. However, none of them matched Temperance's present.

Brennan handed Sarah a large envelope. Inside was a piece of paper that declared Temperance Brennan Sarah's foster mom! Sarah screamed and launched herself at her and hugged her so hard Brennan could hardly breathe, but she hugged back just as hard.

"Thank you, so much," Sarah whispered.

"I know what it's like, being a foster kid," she replied. "I don't want you to have to go through the same thing."

Angela hopped up. "Ok, as much as I hate breaking up a new family, how bout we all go hop into the pool before you two suffocate to death."

Everyone laughed and then ran inside to put on their bathing suits. Many of them probably couldn't say this was the coolest party ever, but they definitely could say it was the best.

**If you are curious, I'd suggest you read Tristan's PoV. It gives you an idea of what was going on through Tristan's head thoughout this story. **


End file.
